Russia, Hungary to cooperate in various spheres

• 

Hungary and Russia adopted joint plans for cooperation on energy, industry, healthcare, food, and space exploration, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook following a meeting with his Russian counterpart.

The nearly an hour and a half long negotiations between Szijjarto and Lavrov took place early on Monday and reached an agreement to expand and enhance cooperation in several spheres.

"Following the meeting of the foreign ministers, it became clear that the Russian government is ready to continue good cooperation," the top Hungarian diplomat said, noting that their cooperation would benefit the Hungarian economy as well as Hungarian interests in general.

According to Szijjarto, the agreements will see the two nations cooperating on energy, industry food, space exploration, and healthcare.

He also noted that the Hungarian delegation had arrived in Moscow "to strengthen the dialogue between the Western allies and Russia." 

Negotiations between the East and the West kicked off in talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron, in addition to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"This is good news. It inspires hope that existing tensions can be reduced. We hope that the negotiations between East and West will now receive a new boost," Szijjarto concluded.

The tensions in question relate to the West accusing Russia of planning a military invasion of Ukraine, but Kyiv and Moscow have denied the western fearmongering, saying there was no such imminent invasion.

Gas deal with Russia guarantees cheaper fuel for Hungary

The agreement between Budapest and Moscow on the latter supplying Hungary with fuel until 2036 ensures that the EU member state would be buying fuel at a lower price than it would be on the European market, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

The Russian-Hungarian agreement signed last year until 2036 "is the result of our joint work. In this sense, it is important that not only supplies will be secure until 2036 but also that, even today, Hungary procures Russian gas five times cheaper than the market price in Europe," Putin said.

During a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Moscow, Putin stressed that Russia guaranteed a secure supply under the joint agreement.

The Russian leader underlined that energy was an important component of cooperation with Hungary, adding that bilateral trade grew 30% in the first 11 months of last year.